Rahul Roy On Life After His Brain Stroke, Taking 8 Medicines A Day & Turning Vegan, Junoon 2, Getting Trolled And More

With Aashiqui (1990), Rahul Roy became an overnight star with a film whose songs are still hummed today. In the supernatural Junoon (1992), inspired by An American Werewolf in London (1981), he transforms into a tiger. But a few hits later, bad script choices and unsuccessful films at the box office led to his downfall. He made a return in the inaugural season of Bigg Boss (2006), winning it, but nothing much came post that.

In 2020, Roy had a brain stroke while shooting in Kargil. In April this year, he was in the news when he got trolled for dancing with a content creator on several reels, to which he later issued a reply talking about how he was trying to earn money with honesty to pay his fees for legal cases and also how it was important for him to stay active after his brain stroke.

In an interview with The Free Press Journal, Roy spoke about his latest project, titled Super Badshah on Kuku TV, where he plays an underworld don alongside TV actor Karanvir Bohra. Roy also opened up about his brain stroke, Junoon and trolling. Excerpts:

Q. In your latest project, you play an underworld don. Tell us a bit about your role.

A. When Karanvir Bohra and Madhavi approached me for the role, I was very excited. The only thing I was sceptical about was my speech problem because of the brain stroke which I had in 2020 when I was shooting in Kargil. But Karanvir was supportive throughout. After my brain stroke, I didn't even know if I would be able to walk or talk again. I used to be a heavy smoker and a non-vegetarian, but I've turned vegan, and am off onion, garlic and milk and am basically having Jain food. Every day after breakfast, I have 8 medicines. But things are much better now than before.

Q. Junoon is still one of the best supernatural films Bollywood has seen. How did the tiger transformation scene take place?

A. Mahesh Bhatt had got a person from Los Angeles who would do my make-up. On the first day, the make-up took 17 hours. The next day, it took around 11 hours. And then on the third and fourth day, it took around 8 hours. I used to eat and drink using straws. It was very difficult, but very beautiful. Hopefully, Junoon 2 will happen, and I would want to be part of it 100%.

Q. I really liked the way you responded to the trolls who had made fun of you regarding your recent reel.

A. The trolling incident was all new to me, and I didn't know what was happening. It was my sister Hari Ma who drafted that response for me and helped post it on my social media.

Roy’s story is an important one, as he has seen both the dizzying heights of stardom and watched it all disappear. His health problem makes it difficult at times to communicate, as you will see in the video, but he's made tremendous progress. We wish Roy success in his future endeavours, and maybe, someday, he would return as India's scariest tiger, with his fellow brother and sister big cats holding up placards for him in all the wildlife parks and jungles, cheering for him.